This GENUINELY has to be my favourite shoot to date and I'm so excited to be sharing this blog post with you today.
For ages I have been wanting to do a test shoot with a professional team to create more content for my portfolio. When I met Charlotte (https://www.instagram.com/charlottealbert.makeup/) on a Quba & Co shoot last November I knew I wanted to work with her to create a delicate but beautiful make up look.
I met Isabella (the model - https://www.instagram.com/isabellalilley/) at college back home in Hampshire and knowing she came to Cornwall quite a lot I also knew that she was the model we had to use.
Finally, so many people say it but, honestly, it's not WHAT you know but WHO you know, especially in a creative industry like this. I feel very fortunate that Charlotte and Socorra live together which meant that we also had a professional hair stylist involved in the shoot (https://www.instagram.com/socorra_hairstylist/ - she's amazing!).
We planned the shoot around the concept 'Dripping in Jewellery'. We wanted to do a few different looks but all involving jewellery in one way or another, be it via rings, earrings or necklaces. Using the trusty Pinterest, we created a board full of loads of inspo which was super useful so we knew the looks we were aiming for. You can follow me on Pinterest here! https://www.pinterest.co.uk/abigailhobbsphotography/
As a photographer growing her business, investing in kit takes a lot of time. I've had the same £100 studio kit for 18 months and it's got me through so many jobs. The stands are pretty bent and really not sturdy in the slightest but for the time being it works! The added costs are obviously the backdrops and they're not exactly the cheapest. I've got a simple white paper backdrop but for this shoot I wanted a much warmer tone. I ordered a backdrop off of Wex https://www.wexphotovideo.com/ which is a fantastic site for all things photography. However, this is where it went a *tad* wrong. They didn't have the size backdrop I wanted however it was getting close to the date of the shoot so I figured ordering the next size up wouldn't be too bad. It was more money but I could probably use the backdrop for loads of other stuff right? WRONG, it was HUGE. I couldn't even get it in my car and to top it off the colour was completely not what I was expecting.
So...with two days to go until the shoot I had to ask a huge favour and thankfully Olivia (https://www.instagram.com/oliviabossert/) kindly lent me one of her backdrops. Honestly that women is constantly saving me!
We did the shoot in Charlottes flat which has loads of natural light coming in which was perfect. I always tend to shy away from studio flashes purely because I prefer the look of natural light.
I initially started the shoot using my Nikon D850 (as always) alongside my 85mm 1.4. It was working great and really matched the vibe we were going for with the soft natural look however I felt really restricted due to the fact I was in quite a tight space. After the first 2 looks I then switched to my trusty 24-120mm lens which honestly I can't fault. Apart from some vignetting, I use this lens for pretty much every shoot I do. It's such a great all rounder. I'd love for the f/stop to go down to 1.4/1.2 however I think thats the case with most photographers and lenses - you can't have it all!
Using the second lens meant I could get more details in the shot. Even though the aperture isn't as good as the 85mm, I bumped up the ISO to around 320 and it worked just as well. Besides, I didn't want to lose too much in the depth of field so using an aperture of f/4 was perfect.
It becomes quite obvious which looks were done at the end of the day as the light was really starting to go. This was when it was a bit of a rush. Due to the time of the year, in the UK we tend to lose the sun from around 3.30pm onwards (not helpful) so I started playing around with more full body shots as well as just portraits. We were wanting quite a moody tone to the images so the lack of light worked well.
It was so much fun and I think we were all so proud of what we produced on that day. I loved all the looks but I think the second one (hair pulled back) is my absolute favourite look - so classy and just loooovely!
If you've got this far reading this then thank you! If you want to see more of my work, BTS and that kind of thing then you can follow me on Instagram:
And finally, if you would like to work with me then please drop me an email on
A x
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